Saturday, March 26, 2005

Birthday Celebration Round 1: Italian

I figured I was going to give up celebrating birthdays after I turned 30, but I just couldn’t say no to good food and great company. As it happens, on my birthday, my friend Tania and Pierre are in town from Beijing. I also found out that my friend Amy’s birthday is only two days after mine. So Amy, Dara, Tania, I and our husbands had dinner at Luxor, an Italian restaurant in Shiroganedai created by Mario Frittoli, who used to be head chef of Il Pinolo in Kamiyacho (also appearances on Iron Chef).

I had actually been to Luxor once before, more than two years ago. I remembered the funky décor (a Lucite column filled with knives and forks greets you when you step inside) and the friendly sommelier. The sommelier is no longer there but the décor remains the same.

Now, Jason NEVER EVER lets me take pictures in a restaurant (he thinks it's totally unnecessary and very bumpkinish of me to want to take pictures of EVERYTHING) but since he was sitting at the other end of the long table, I managed to snap these shots. Lighting was low so I was forced to use flash and a couple of them turned out blurry, but it’s better than nothing.

For entrée, I chose a giant Hokkaido scallop baked in its shell with uni (sea urchin) sauce. The creaminess of the uni played off the crunchy breadcrumb topping really nicely, and I mopped up all the sauce with nice warm bread. We girls then shared two pasta dishes: the gorgonzola sauce of the gnocchi was punchy, and the black truffle risotto had a nice bite to it. My main dish of lamb chop baked in puff pastry was robust in flavor but at that point I was so stuffed I couldn’t finish it. What a shame.

Just when we were contemplating whether or not to order dessert, the restaurant staff brought out this plate for Amy and I. It turned out that Amy’s husband Gary, or maybe his secretary, made the special arrangement. She also ordered this chocolate birthday cake. Of course by this time everyone had his/her eye on the chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream that we ordered two to share, on top of the cake. We are pigs!

I ate so much that I was dreaming of food that night. Burp.

In case anyone wants to try the place, this is the address: 5-4-7 Shiroganedai, Minato-ku. Tel: 03-3446-6900

About Me

After obtaining her Doctorate in Pharmacy, Lynn spent years working in the healthcare industry but was frustrated that she couldn’t derive any satisfaction from her career. She finally made the decision to pursue what she enjoys doing the most: making delicious desserts and sharing them with the people in her life. She enrolled in the French culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu in Tokyo and obtained her diploma in French patisserie in December 2006.

When not in her kitchen whisk in hand, Lynn enjoys taking photos of food and her surroundings. Her photos have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong Chic, Tokyo Chic, Singapore Chic, promotional materials for Le Goûter Bernadaud Hong Kong and several websites and web based magazines. The cookbook that she shot: Wine Dinners by Melina and NK Yong went on to win Best Wine Book of the Year at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2009.

Lynn started taking riding lessons in 2009 and before long, weekly lessons became bi-weekly, then three times a week. She now rides 5 days a week at the Singapore Polo Club on a lovely Lipizzaner mare named Istria.